Is Android Wear a smartwatch albatross?

Asus has set out its goals for the ZenWatch 2: it wants a smartwatch that lasts for up to seven days off a single charge.

The Asus ZenWatch has only just gone on sale, but Asus Chairman Jonney Shih has already voiced his dissatisfaction with the current design.

"The ZenWatch is defined by us as a companion of a smartphone, and we think it still has a lot of room for improvement," he said at an Asus end-of-2014 party.

He also set out bold goals for the next model, which has already been rumoured under the predictable title Zenwatch 2.

"As a companion device, its central processing unit and operating system should be more simplified than the current version, so that I can use it for up to seven days on one charge, rather than for just two days," Shih said.

Bold claims

These are bold words, not just because only the monochrome Pebble Steel gets close to seven-day stamina at present. It also suggests that Asus may drop Android Wear for its second smartwatch.

Shih is looking for a "more simplified" operating system, but the level of manufacturer control in Android Wear is extremely limited. It simply wouldn't allow the sort of paring-back Shih mentions at present.

The caveat here is that Jonney Shih is an ebullient character whose words may be indicative more of an optimistic view of 2015 than concrete intentions to strip the ZenWatch to its bones for the second model.

Asus CEO Jerry Shen has already confirmed that the company is looking to release another smart watch in Q3 2015, meaning we may see the coda of this tale during IFA 2015 in September. The original ZenWatch was announced at IFA 2014.